Ingredients

Half a kilogram of lima beans (or other medium sized dry beans); half a sucuk (a semi-dried beef-based Turkish sausage made by a dry-curing process); 3 tbsp of red pepper paste (sweet or hot); 2 tbsp of tomato paste; half a cup of olive oil; ½ table of salt; and water to cover the clay pot; Optional: 0.5 kg of finely chopped onion and 1 bulb of garlic, and hot paprika.

Preparation and Cooking

• Start by cleaning the beans. Rinse them thoroughly in a colander and discard any debris or damaged beans.
• Next, move the beans to a sufficiently large container and add sufficient water until it is about 5-8 cm above the level of the beans to allow the beans to expand as sit overnight. During this phase, as a usual practice also immerse the clay pot and its lid in water, allowing them to soak overnight.
• The following day, peel off the skin from the sucuk and cut it into small pieces.
• Finely chop the onions and garlic and sauté them in a few tbsp of olive oil.
• Drain the soaked beans and transfer them into the pre-soaked clay pot. Proceed to add all the remaining ingredients and top it with boiled water. Make sure there is enough water to cover the beans by about 3cm in the clay pot, then secure the lid. Then cook in at 150-180^oC for about 2-3 hours. If slow cooking mode (with no active fire and the door tightly sealed, maintaining a temperature around 120^oC), allow the beans to cook for about 3-4 hours.
• Baked lima beans are now be ready to serve. The dish is served hot usually individually or on top of a rice or bulgur pilaf accompanied with a range of pickles (green tomato, green flat beans, cucumber, cabage etc). It is also preferred with hot spices in South East of Turkiye.

Hints and Comments

• This highly flavoursome and a landmark dish in Turkiye, when cooked in a claypot with the above ingredients is very flavoursome and have smooth and creamy texture.
• A slightly modified version of this dish is also highly popular and flavoursome, where the amount of beans and chopped onions should be equal. In addition, Turkish pastirma (a highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef) can be used instead of sucuk, and beans can be replaced by the second most popular legume in Turkish cuisine, chickpeas.